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| Fourth Annual Naw-Rúz Celebration in St. Cloud, MN
an outstanding success! Nearly 600 people attended the Fourth Annual Naw-Rúz Celebration in St. Cloud Minnesota on March 21, 2003! The noontime reception was held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the restored historic Paramount Theatre Lobby again this year. The Paramount is physically accessible, and all in Central Minnesota were cordially invited to a taste of Middle Eastern hospitality that featured complimentary appetizers, desserts, and music. A sumptuous selection of delicacies, including homemade baklava, dolmeh, mast-o-khyar, chumus, fresh pocket bread, halva, feta cheese, mango punch and more was served! Guests to this festive celebration were greeted with a carefully arranged Haft-Sin (7- Ss) table. Many traditional items were on the table, including painted eggs, sweets, hyacinth, coins and a mirror. The Haft-Sin table also included Holy Books from Bahá'í, Islam and Bibles printed in English and Persian, and a rosary from Medjugorje the town in the formerYugoslavia where visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary were recorded. Educational materials were available nearby explaining the item's symbolism. Immediately to the side of the Haft-Sin table, groups of children were setting eggs on their end, following a fabled tradition that the Equinox is the only day of the year in which this is possible. Many who swelled the space to capacity in several waves of attendance were visibly overwhelmed with the elegant setting and moved by the spirit of hospitality. Individuals were seen carefully arranging their selections on their plates, as if to extend the beauty of the artistic presentation found on the many trays of food, placed on 4 tables throughout the lobby. Groups of homeschooled children sat around the lobby floor while City Officials, including the Mayor and former Mayor, mingled with business executives, University professors and Department Chairs, organizational and community leaders, and local residents with ease and comfort. Persian classical music and traditional folk songs, provided by Robayat, wafted through the building as people stopped to read the educational materials of the cultural significance of the day and enjoyed each other's company. The Noontime program began with Mark Ochu, Chair of the Planning Committee, reading a prayer for Naw-Ruz and Dr. Nancy Harles, the Director of the St. Cloud American Indian Center offering a ceremonial smudging with sage. Immediately following the smudging, internationally renowned singer Nargis Mondjazib from Samarkand, chanted a prayer in Persian, just before Mayor John Ellenbecker read a statement prepared by his office proclaiming March to be Naw-Rúz month in St. Cloud. The Mayor's office felt that doing so would bring forward the historical and contemporary significance of Naw-Ruz to instill throughout the month a spirit of rebirth and renewal to the St. Cloud Community, an area recently plagued with hate-bias activities. (click here to read Mayor Ellenbecker's Proclamation) Following Mayor Ellenbecker's Proclamation, Maryam Yusefzadeh, a native of Iran and a Christian of Zorastrian background, explained in colorful detail the exciting cultural celebrations that are included in the thirteen days of Naw-Rúz in Persia. She shared such stories of going to neighbor's houses with faces veiled, pretending to stir a concoction in a bowl while whispering a prayer of good will and blessing upon their family, and building huge fires over which people would leap, offering a symbolic cleansing of one's soul and aura, and emerging from the fire reborn to face the new year with promise and hope. A student from Kenya and another from South Africa explained the significance of Spring in their countries. They delighted the participants with a rhythmic song in Swahili, sung in perfect harmony, as they couldn't contain themselves from dancing as they sang. Students from Japan, dressed in traditional Kimonos were giddy as they detailed how special the first day of Spring is as a National holiday in Japan, and followed with a sweet lyrical melody, softly sung in Japanese. Nargis returned to sing an enchanting melody to an audience thirsting for her humble, tender voice. Soft, gentle and traditional dance steps accentuated her notes and elated everyone listening. The opulent amount of food ran out well before the end of the program, and the mood in the space was electrifying. One event-goer said later that evening, "I look forward to this every year. My heart is so burdened right now with the war, and its all I see on TV and in the paper and my soul is crying out. I came to Naw-Rúz today, and in an instant I was filled with renewal, hope, excitement and rebirth. The stories from Maryam of jumping over fire and cleansing the past to allow hope for the future resonated with me and put things into perspective, if only for today." It was truly a feast for the soul, eyes, ears and palate that was welcomed in this time of conflict. The Fourth Annual Naw-Rúz was brought to the community by Jordan Institute and was generously supported by Copy Central, St. Joseph Chiropractic, St. Cloud Branch of the NAACP, Liberty Savings, Bagelman's Bakery and Deli, Neils, Franz & Chirhart, with assistance from the City of St. Cloud and the Downtown Council. It is hoped that this unprecedented success will only increase next year, as plans are already underway for the fifth annual Naw-Rúz celebration in St. Cloud, Minnesota. |
Return to: Jordan Institute
Visit the Baha'i News Archives' for the latest Baha'i related news from around the globe.
URL: http://uga_edu_proxy_target.cc.uga.edu/bahai/JordanInstitute/nrreport2003.html